Powerful day today

I think today was a pretty powerful time of worship. It usually seems that when someone opens up and gets vulnerable, people respond. It was my turn to be vulnerable today. I was preaching on Matthew 7:24-27 and sharing about Erin and my infertility struggles. I really don't like to talk about it much, but felt like it was the right thing to do. One guy gave me and Erin a hug afterwards, thanking us for leading through our vulnerability. For some reason, I'm never able to cry in public. Despite the fact that I prayed numerous times while writing and practicing my message, I showed basically no emotion while preaching. Not sure why I'm that way.

If you'd like to listen to or read the message, you can do so here.

A couple other notes from today:

- I got smoked in guitar hero by Chris Billings. I knew it was coming. It's amazing I made it this far in the summer tournament. This picture was taken by my brother-in-law, Steve as I was warming up by playing Chris' daughter, Cailey. Cailey also smoked me; she also rubbed it in!

- We sent out Mike Palmer in style! Mike's moving to his home church in St. Louis to start a ministry that will reach out to the 9 secular college campuses in the St. Louis are. Mike's a great guy and will succeed in this ministry because of his love for God and love for people. Mike told me just this morning that his year with TFC has made a HUGE impact on his life and ministry. That's a high compliment from such a high character/ skill guy. We'll really miss Mike and he'll miss us.

- I LOVE the fact that our set-up/ tear-down crew is large enough to allow me to sleep in and talk with new people after worship. I no longer have to help before or after worship. We were set-up by 9:00 and loaded back up by 12:20. These guys have gotten REALLY good! You guys are the work-horses of TFC!

- I mentioned in my message that Emily Crow took a big step of faith this week. In a recent email, she told me this. Had I read this earlier, I would've used it in my message. This is EXACTLY what I preached on today.
Actually I wrote in my journal about these verses not that long ago...I related the verses to the story of the 3 little pigs. How really the importance of it all is to build a solid foundation and home (aka...your heart). A big bad wolf or storm....or test or trial can come at any time in our lives and blow everything away. But our foundation...our heart...if strong, and built on the solid foundation of God's word....it won't crash. It may take a beating, it may get hurt...but God, he's a pretty strong dude and He won't let it fall down. A wise man (or woman mind you) who has God as their foundation...has the foundation within themselves to withstand even the toughest trials, and misfortunes this world can throw their way. A strong foundation, doesn't mean perfection or that it's flawless...even the toughest homes leak, become infested or need to be repainted or re-shingled at times. That's prayer.
As I shared this morning, I'm learning the truth of those words.